//------------------------------// // Mounting Tension // Story: A New World, A New Stage, The Same Act // by Purple Pony //------------------------------// The carriage parked near the office of the Baltimare Guard wasn’t in any sort of trouble. It happened to be housing some of it’s most crucial members. Right now, though, those members of the guard were sleeping in peace. At least until one set of blue eyes opened from it’s bed. Johnathan was a bit confused as to why he woke up. The former human, current Lucario, was a pretty heavy sleeper when he wasn’t working. As he yawned and started really waking up, he started glancing around to see what the cause of his interrupted sleep was. The Great and Powerful Trixie’s door was still closed, so it probably wasn’t her. The blue unicorn was the owner of the wagon they were staying in, and once you got past the showmare appearance she maintained almost all the time, she was a fun mare to be with, if a little bit snooty at times. Looking to the side, he saw that his team was still asleep. Howl the Mightyena was on the bottom of the pile, Heat the Combusken was in the middle, while Echo the Noibat was on the top of the pile. None of them had budged. Johnathan glanced out the window he was sleeping next to. The moon was full, and tonight would have been a perfect night for Fox to perform another heist. However, there hadn't been a calling card, which meant there was no heist. Pity, it was a nice night. Of course, bright moonlight does make it rather hard to make a getaway, and Fox was a master at getaways. It was just then that he noticed a card on the front step of the stairway leading into the carriage. The card shone in the moonlight, probably laminated, and the pattern was eerily familiar. It was Fox’s calling card. There would be a heist soon. Quietly, so as not to wake up his sleeping friends, he edged over to the front door and opened it up. Climbing down the stairs and closing the door behind him, quietly, he reached down and picked up the card. Usually, the card would be outlining what Fox would steal, when, and from who. However, this time there was only one word. Gotcha “Clever girl.” Johnathan muttered, before feeling something cover his mouth. Having tried (and failed) to catch Fox for the past five years, even back in the human world, he knew from experience that when Fox wanted to steal something, she stole it, and usually made a Hollywood production out of it. So when Johnathan realized that he was what Fox was planning on stealing, he figured there were two options. One, try to escape, fail, and probably get hurt in the process. Two, go with it, hope Fox was in a good mood, and maybe once her guard was down, attempt to arrest her. No contest. Not that he could have resisted anyways. The webbing covering his mouth had also grabbed him by the shoulders and was slowly lifting him off the ground. He looked up, seeing a couple of familiar Spinirak that he was always having to deal with on Fox’s heists. Johnathan looked back down, seeing the sidewalk and carriage disappear below him. He was too far up to escape uninjured if he tried to break free. Resigned to his fate, he realized that he was already at the top of the building. There, standing with her full heist outfit, was the Phantom Thief he had been trying to catch for most of his life. Except, in an ironic twist of fate, she caught him. Earlier that day Alice Maximilion was tired of relaxing. She knew that she had had a busy month, but she was a woman on action. She liked jumping on buildings, robbing the evil, dodging the police, that sort of thing. Not sitting around the house reading the local paper day after day hoping for news of an evil pony to show up. The Zoroark was busy reading one of the many books that filled the bookshelf. She was in one of the many living rooms in her benefactor's mansion. The owners, Sleight Hoof, an earth pony magician, and Quick Storm, a former weather pony, were some of the sweetest ponies she had had the honor of meeting over the past month, after Arceus decided that the human world was too far gone and moved a couple billion Pokemon as well as several 'worthy' humans to the land of Equus. The initial panic had died down, but the integration was going fairly slowly, seeing as right now Pokemon can't directly communicate with ponies without a unicorn's help. Right now, though, Alice was wishing that a couple of Pokemon had been left behind. Her Liepard, Shade, was trying, but failing, to take a nap. The cat-like Dark type had her paws over her ears, hoping that she could block out the noise, but it wasn't working, as evidenced by the growing snarl on her face. The two Spinarak, Charlotte and Spinner, weren't the source of the noise. They were hiding in a corner, making designs out of their webbing. They didn't seem too bothered by the noise, but with how fast they were talking to each other, they probably couldn't make out whatever was being yelled. The real problems were the last two Pokemon around. Rascal the Weavile was one of Fox's partners in crime. He was very good at what he did, and he was proud of it. Scep the Sceptile was a former member of the Pokemon Liberation Army, and he was also very good and whatever he wanted to be good at, as well as being proud of it. Naturally, this left the two of them in opposition. Which often culminated in a shouting match. That was the reason why most of the servants had left, and why Shade was in a very slashy mood. "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!!!!" Shade yelled over the two arguing Pokemon. "ONLY WHEN HE RESPECTS ME!!!" The two opposing arguers yelled back in unison. "So how long will that take? Because I'm tired of hearing you two yell at each other every single day!" Alice voiced her opinion. "ASK HIM!" the two said in unison again, as if they had rehearsed this. "Oh for the love of Arceus." Alice muttered. "I'm half tempted to turn the two of you in right now. Seriously! The only reason I'm not is because I don't want to ruin the Phantom Thief Fox's reputation." "Are you sure that's the only reason?" Shade asks slyly. Alice looks at the Liepard with a questioning look. "What else could there be?" "A certain police officer that happens to also be a former human." Shade points out. It takes a second, but Alice's face lights up bright red at the insinuation of the statement. "W-What?! NO! Not at all! No!" Shade smirks. "The fact that you immediately went there only confirms my suspicions." Rascal and Scep, realizing they weren't the center of attention anymore, look back at the Zoroark and Liepard. "You cheeky cat! I do not have a fascination with Johnathan! He is a very good friend who just so happens to be an enemy of mine. NOTHING MORE!" Alice heatedly defends herself. "I don't even know the whole story, and I can tell that's a lie." Scep adds in. "Admit it, Alice. You love him." Rascal says flatly. "I DO NOT LO-" Alice starts to yell out, before cutting herself off. She starts to think back. Meeting Johnathan in school, realizing that they would one day be enemies, but still knowing him anyways. Reuniting with him in Lumiose City, and all the days they spent together. All the flirting directed at him while as Fox, and his face when she flustered him was just the cutest dang thing...oh. Alice sighs in defeat. "Fiiiine, I guess I love him." Spinner and Charlotte do a motion that looks suspiciously like pumping their fist. "Okay, so what are you going to do about it?" Shade prompts. "I can't do anything. I'm a fugitive of the law, and he's trying to catch me. I can't reveal myself, because he would just as soon arrest me without giving me a chance to talk. I can't try only being Alice around him, because while I'm a good actor, I'm not THAT good, and eventually something will slip. I can't stop being Fox, because then Johnathan will be stuck waiting for a foe that will never come back. There is no way that I can be with him." By the end of her tirade, Alice is in tears, and slowly curls up into a ball. The next one to speak isn't a Pokemon. "So that's why the shouting stopped." Quick Storm said. The dark blue mare walked over to the sobbing Fox and wrapped her in a hug. "What's wrong, Alice?" Alice, along with the other Pokemon, tell Quick Storm the full story. "This sounds an awful lot like how Sleight described himself trying to confess his feelings. He was always afraid that he wouldn't be accepted. However, having this situation is very bad in your line of work." Quick points out. "Now that I've confronted it, how can I keep doing this?" The Zoroark asked. "I never had this much drama, so this is well out of my pay scale." Quick Storm quips. "Isn't there a Pokemon out there that can help you with this? Celestia knows there's a Pokemon for everything." Alice reverts back to her scientist background, quickly trying to remember any Pokemon that would fit the bill. "Luvdisc are more for couples getting eternal love, but they are rare and may not be anywhere around here. Most Pokemon can learn Attract, but I don't want something dangerous to happen because of that. Hmmm..." "What about Cresselia?" Shade asks. "Possibly, but there is no way she'll bother with me. She has the whole world to roam, there is no reason for her to help me-" Alice was cut off by a bright light in the room. When it disappears, there is a Pokemon floating behind her. With a dark blue body, not as dark as Quick's coat, with yellow and pink highlights up and down it's body, it just so happens to be the Pokemon that was being talked about. Did someone call?